by Li Hai-ku ( flourished 19th Century )
Translation by Amy Lowell (1874 - 1925)
The Hermit
Language: English after the Chinese (中文)
A cold rain blurs the edges of the river. Night enters Wu. In the level brightness of dawn I saw my friend start alone for the Ch'u Mountain. He gave me this message for his friends and relations at Lo Yang: My heart is a piece of ice in a jade cup.
Confirmed with Florence Ayscough and Amy Lowell, Fir-Flower Tablets: Poems Translated from the Chinese by Ayscough and Lowell, New York : Houghton Mifflin Company, 1921, p.160
Text Authorship:
- by Amy Lowell (1874 - 1925), "The Hermit" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Li Hai-ku ( flourished 19th Century ) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Marga Richter (1926 - 2020), "The Hermit", 1953 [ soprano and piano ], from Two Chinese Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-10-26
Line count: 6
Word count: 52